Mohammed Yunus

This week on One on One meet Bangladeshi banker and economist Mohammed Yunus.

03 Mar 2011 04:53 GMT

Mohammed Yunus

Bangladeshi banker and economist Mohammed Yunus, is the developer and founder of the concept of microcredit, the extension of small loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. Yunus is also the founder of Grameen Bank.

In 2006, Yunus and the bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, "for their efforts to create economic and social development from below."Yunus himself has received several other international honors, including the World Food Prize and the Sydney Peace Prize. He is the author of Banker to the Poor and a founding board member of Grameen Foundation.

Born into a large family and raised in rural Bangladesh, Mohamed Yunus traveled to the USA to study economics at Vanderbilt University in the 1960’s.

The 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate began the business of fighting poverty more than three decades ago, when he returned to Bangladesh to teach. Disillusioned that his economics lessons within the classroom couldn’t explain the famine outside in the street, he launched a movement targeting the poor with easily available small loans.

Disbelievers say the Grameen Bank is outside the realm of mainstream banking - but it’s now a system that has been emulated in more than 23 countries.

Dr Yunus say the challenge is far from over, and he will not rest until everyone has been freed from the suffering of poverty.

This episode of One on One aired on 19 May 2007

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